Come Home
by WrenWinterSong
Summary: Three year old Teddy Lupin ponders the photographs on the living room side table.


Teddy Remus Lupin sits on a sofa that has been through enough stain-removing charms to fade all traces of the original colour from its cushions. He's nestled between all four throw pillows with a beloved beige blanket wrapped once around his torso and twice around his arm. He's aware of his grandmother returning from the kitchen after finishing the washing, but his mind is too focused on creating new connections for the distraction to gain his attention. He remembers that 'after dinner' means 'good night' time, which means he only has a few more moments before he will be carried to bed and tucked in for the night.

The three framed photographs that Teddy is staring at have sat on the side-table for as long as he can remember. Five faces smile at him kindly, sometimes even waving, as he looks back and forth between them.

The first photograph is called 'Grandfather and Nana.' A man with fair hair looks adoringly at the woman beside him, who grins up at Teddy in a familiar way.

The woman shares Nana's name, but they don't look very much alike. Nana's hair is grey and bundled at the back of her neck while the Nana in the photo has black hair that curls everywhere.

He knows this is a wedding picture, but he doesn't know what a wedding is. Uncle Harry wants one, though, so it must be something good. He wants to be just like Uncle Harry because Uncle Harry is his godfather, which he has learned means Uncle Harry is his pretend Daddy like Nana is his pretend Mummy.

Is this how all families work?

The middle frame is called 'Mummy.' The girl inside wears simple black robes that mean she went to Hogwarts, though Teddy is unsure why she wore black at the castle. When he was there today, everyone wore white.

He likes Mummy, though, because she can change herself just like he can. There's a word for it, he knows that, but he can't remember it just now.

Mummy's hair switches from the same light colour as Grandfather's and curly shape as photograph Nana's to a pink as bright as the new baby's blanket and a length as short and messy as Uncle Harry's.

Will Teddy ever be able to switch back and forth as easily?

The last one is "Mummy and Daddy." The people in the photo have matching brown hair and happy smiles, and they wave at Teddy more than Grandfather, photograph Nana, or Hogwarts Mummy do.

Daddy's brown eyes are just like the ones he sees when he looks into a mirror. He hopes they are the same. He hopes he looks just like Daddy.

He wonders if this brown-haired Mummy is the same as the Mummy in the other photograph, but he can't decide if she's changed her appearance again or is a completely different person.

Do all Mummies and Daddies leave photographs when they go away?

Uncle Harry has a photograph called 'My Dad and Mum.' Teddy has been told they are with his Mummy and Daddy and Grandfather. Wherever they are, it must be a really great place, because none of them ever come back from there.

Uncle Neville and Auntie Hannah have 'Mummy and Daddy' pictures too. He's seen them when Uncle Harry takes him out for lunch at the Leaky Cauldron. They are with Mummy and Daddy too.

Auntie Fleur is a Mummy now, and Uncle Bill is a Daddy, but they are still at home with Victoire. They haven't yet gone away and left a photograph on the nightstand.

Do all Mummies and Daddies disappear like Teddy's did?

Teddy's Mummy and Daddy haven't really disappeared, though. He knows where they are. They are at Hogwarts. Their names are on a statue that he visited today, but he did not get to visit Mummy and Daddy while he was there.

He wonders if Mummy and Daddy were in one of the towers that he was stopped from going up. He had been looking for something to do other than wish someone his age was there, but now he thinks Mummy and Daddy must have been up there.

Mummy and Daddy are at Hogwarts, but they weren't at the Hogwarts party today. They must be up in that tower. Uncle Harry had stopped him from climbing more than two steps, though, so Teddy never got to see Mummy and Daddy up in the tower.

Why didn't they come down to play with him?

Nana sits down beside Teddy, curling an arm around him as she gazes at the pictures too. She used to cry every time she looked at them too long, but Teddy hasn't seen her cry at these pictures for a while.

Nana must miss Mummy and Daddy. She must not visit them at Hogwarts either. But if she isn't crying anymore, that must mean she will get to see Mummy and Daddy again soon.

Will she take Teddy with her?

There will not be another party at Hogwarts for a while, not for three years, Teddy's told, though he doesn't know what years are. They must be like minutes and moments. Another meaning for not now but later.

He hopes that the next time they go to a Hogwarts party, Mummy and Daddy will come down from the Tower and see him. He would like that. He would really like that. A lot.

Will they be just as happy to see Teddy?

"Nana?"

"Yes, sweetheart?"

"Mummy. Daddy. Home?"

"Yes, your Mummy and Daddy are here at home, just like they always have and will always be."

"No. Mummy and Daddy. Come home? Tomorrow?"

All Mummies and Daddies come home. Auntie Fleur never leaves home. Uncle Bill goes on trips for a long time, but he always comes home. The Mummies and Daddies at daycare always pick up their kids and take them home.

All Mummies and Daddies come home.

"Oh, sweetheart. No, no, they aren't coming home."

Nana is crying, and Teddy thinks she has been looking at the photographs for too long again. He wonders why she looks at them when they only make her sad.

"Stay Hogwarts?"

If Mummy and Daddy aren't home, then they are at Hogwarts. This is a fact Teddy has always known. Nana nods her head, and he smiles.

For now, that is enough. For him to know where they are comforts and reassures him. They are at Hogwarts, which means they could come home, just like he and Nana do.

They could come home.

"Come home soon."

All Mummies and Daddies come home. Why would his be any different?

Teddy Remus Lupin cannot comprehend why his grandmother collapses into tears at that moment or why she cannot bear to say another word as she pulls him snug against her chest and keeps him there until he reminds her it is passed his bedtime. His head remains just beside her heart as she carries him to his bed and tucks the comforter around him just as she always has. He kisses her goodnight and drifts into peaceful sleep just a minute later, and he dreams of pink-haired Mummy and brown-eyed Daddy walking down the Tower steps and hugging him tightly, because they have wanted to meet him as much as he wants to meet them.

They take his hand and leave Hogwarts.

They come home with him.


End file.
